


A Glitch in the Matrix

by BlueSkyHeadLeft010



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (obviously during the Garrison chapters), AU, Angst, Body Horror, Body Swap, Buckle up kiddies this is gonna be a bumpy ride, Character Study, Crossdressing, Excessive Swearing, Family Loss, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Loss of Identity, Multilingual Pidge, Nightmares, Pidge is not Katie Holt, Realistic Voltron, Team as Family, This poor child has suffered enough, Universe Study, Worldbuilding Study, brief mention of death, idk how to tag this, interdependent sibling relationship, long story, there is no romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2018-09-27 19:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10043648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueSkyHeadLeft010/pseuds/BlueSkyHeadLeft010
Summary: In the time it took to blink, she was somewhere else.A bedroom, decorated in brown with various space posters, Disney princesses, and a computer, stared back at her as she found herself on top a bed.Her first thought, spoken aloud, was “Who the hell decorates using vinyl stickers?” and the second thought was "That's not my voice".





	1. Prologue: The Switch

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo~! It's Sky once again! :3
> 
> I've had this idea in my head for some time and had to write it out.  
> It's been sitting idle in my files for many, many, months and now I've decided to do a 'test' chapter, if you may, to see how the Voltron fandom responds to it.
> 
> I will post more if you guys like it, I just wanted to see if anyone was interested in this kind of au.  
> I've seen a lot of displaced and body swapping stories on the Voltron fandom, but never really about the team being swapped with someone totally unrelated to the story. (Most of the time it's like Lance ends up being swapped with 'xyz' on the team or through time or whatevs...)
> 
> Anyways, I wanted to write something fresh that still fit into the canon world of Voltron, sorta...
> 
> The idea was this; what if Katie wasn't supposed to pilot the green lion, but someone else from another universe was?  
> Tied in with my fascination of the Matrix at the time I couldn't let an opportunity like this slip from my grasp.  
> Hence why Katie isn't Pidge in this story...
> 
> Anyways, all will be explained in greater detail in later chapters. (That is if you guys want to hear more.)  
> I leave it up to you all to decide where I should go with this.  
> Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy!

In the time it took to blink, she was somewhere else.

A bedroom, decorated in brown with various space posters, Disney princesses, and a computer, stared back at her as she found herself ontop a bed.

 

Her first thought, spoken aloud, was “Who the hell decorates using vinyl stickers?” referring to the various vinyl spaceship stickers plastered on the walls, and the second thought was _that's not her voice_.

 

It was too high pitched, nasally, and suggested there was someone young behind the sound.

That's when she stuck her hand out to move the sheets tossed around her and noticed _that wasn't her hand either_.

Stunned, her brain tried and the re-tried to load what was happening with no such luck.

 

She had been working late on an animation, went to get some coffee, then dosed off.

Could someone have drugged her?

 _No,_ was the obvious answer.

It was too surreal, too lifelike of an event to be hallucinating.

Besides, her coworkers Jeff and Katrina were too much of pushovers to do something like that.

 

Deciding she needed to figure out _why_ she was in some kid’s bedroom in another body, she attempted to locate a mirror.

Attempted, because she was currently a mess. The hormones running through her system made her feel anxious, and the fact that she was disoriented seemed to impede her from moving faster than two inches per hour.

 

Was she having a weird fugue moment? Fever dream? Amnesia?

She didn't know. None of it felt like any of those. She remembered clearly where she had been just a few seconds ago, and she remembered where she was now. There had been no hazy transition, just a blink and she was here.

_It didn't add up._

 

She never got to the mirror. Footsteps sounded down the hallway and the bedroom knob turned as the door flew open.

“Hey Katie, Mom says dinner will be ready in a few so you'd better stop whatever you're tinkering on and wash up!” A boy, no correction, a _young adult_ had entered the room smiling, looking for all the world like the interaction between him and whomever this Katie was, was normal.

He paused, his light brown hair strands sticking in his face for a few moments as he moved and looked at her quizzically from where she was huddled up on the bed.

 

“Are you ok? Normally you'd throw me out of your room by now.” He joked, taking a few steps in closer as she realized the young adult male was talking to _her_.

She had to do something. He clearly thought she was the girl, and she couldn't handle any more surprises at the moment.

 

“Fine.” She managed to say without choking, as she scrunched her face up and pretended to look angry instead of scared. “I'll be down in a few, just leave.” She said in a huff. A few minutes would give her time to present herself and… Do something.

 

Instead of having the intended effect, her words seemed to concern the brother more as he let go of the door knob.

“Are you sure Katie? You look upset. It's not because of the Kerberos mission is it?” He was climbing up the ladder now to the bed.

 

Well, she certainly she didn't know what the hell this Kerberos mission was, but she didn't need this guy worrying about her.

She flung a pillow from the bed at him, effectively knocking him down.

“No doofus! It's hormones! Get out!” She shouted, trying to sound playful while inside she was breaking.

 _Leave, please…_ She silently begged.

 

“Alright! Alright! Sheesh! Girls are impossible to understand!” He chuckled, as he got up and moved back to the door. “Just remember dinner’s about done. If you don't stop brewing, good old Matt might eat your share.” He winked as she felt herself laugh anyways before he shut the door.

 

She waited for a few seconds until his footsteps went away down what sounded like stairs before she lost it.

“Shit. Shit. _Shit._ **_Shit!_** ” She hissed, throwing the covers off herself and bounding down the bed towards where a mirror stood behind the door.

 _The girl in the mirror was not her_.


	2. Chapter 1: The Girl with Hazel Nut Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reality sinks in...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait!  
> I've been battling Bronchitis this week and haven't felt like doing anything :P
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter! :3

It was impossible, yet it was staring right at her in the face.

She was a small girl, about thirteen or fourteen if she had to take a guess, with hazel nut eyes and hair to match.

Her skin was white, her facial features mimicking the boy claiming to be her brother.

If her hair wasn't so long she could maybe pass for his doppelgänger.

 

“This is me…” She said to herself, trying to make some sort of sense of things.

 _This isn't me_. Her brain argued back as she touched her face and moved her fingers.

“You are Katie now. It is time for dinner.” She glared at her reflection, taking note of the way her nose crinkled up and her eyes appeared sharp and deadly.

 

 _But you aren't._ Her brain countered. _Your name is…_ She froze, her reflection mimicking the shock written on her face as realization hit. “Why can't I remember…?” She swallowed hard.

 

She remembered everything else. The date, the time, where she had been and what she'd been doing. Her mom’s face, what was due Tuesday at work, her favorite color. Hell, she even knew her home street address!

“But not my name…” She hiccupped, a small tear escaping from her eye before she quickly wiped it away. It was like a roadblock was put there, forcibly keeping her from crossing over.

 

She shook her head, her long purple dress mimicking the movement as she did so.

 

“Katie _come on_! Dinner’s getting cold!” Her brother yelled, as she quickly composed herself and ran a hand through her hair.

“Okay! I'm coming!” She hollered back, doing a quick once over in the mirror and then turning to leave the room.

 

Her earlier assumptions had been correct. There was a small set of stairs that lead down to a living room a few feet from her door.

Walking down in her princess slippers, she took note of the layout of the place; hardwood floor, four doors, two on the right and two on the left spaced diagonally from each another, and filed it away for later in case she needed to know.

 

Walking took a bit of adjusting to, considering her balance was not calibrated for a small child’s walking gait, but she was a quick learner since birth and managed to figure out how to position herself right after six steps.

 

Stairs were another thing.

Like a newborn, it took time to figure out the right placement of her feet, as her mind told her one thing and her body something else. She managed to test run her descent by going up and down the first four steps of the stairs without incident multiple times. Thankfully they were still hidden from view by the second-floor wall and didn’t creak, which gave her the perfect set up for this kind of practice.

 

Once satisfied, she composed herself and walked down the stairs, noting the dining table was straight ahead past the small living room. A powerful aroma of turkey and ham hit her nose, as her stomach began to growl and her mouth salivated.

 

“About time! A few moments later and that ham would be mine!” Her brother Matt joked as she took a seat at the table.

 

Matt was not the only one there.

A woman, presumably her mother, and an older man, her father maybe, along with a pit bull terrier, were gathered around the table eating away.

 

“There's my girl. How's summer vacation going?” The older man asked her, as she picked up her utensils and carved into the turkey.

“Good.” She said, concentrating on not messing up cutting the turkey with her small fingers.

 

“It's good to hear that. The later days in the summer can sometimes seem to drag on…” The older man nodded as he went back to eating off his plate.

 

She didn't bother to respond, opting to instead shove as much food in her mouth as possible so as to avoid speaking at all. _If I can just get through this family dinner quickly, then no one will notice I'm not Katie._ She repeated to herself as they ate.

 

“Hey Dad, do you think we could bring the cards to play with on the ship?” Matt asked as he swallowed a piece of ham. “It would be cool to show Shiro how to play slapjack in zero G.” He smirked.

 

Her father laughed, “I'm not sure the Garrison will let us take more than what we need, but… Considering we still have a little more than two months anyways, I'll ask.” He winked, as Matt grinned wider.

 

She didn't know what to think about all this talk of Kerberos, Garrison, and spaceships. Still, she filed it away for later and chewed on her ham as the evening passed without a hitch.

 

 

 

Dishes were taken up to clean, and after that her father yawned and stretched, popping a few vertebrae in the process. “Well, I suppose I'd better head back to the Garrison.” He waved, his face looking dreamy.

 

“Another late night again?” Her mother asked as her father nodded.

 

“Yeah, Dad’s gotta make sure the rockets are calibrated right for the final testing, so we don't go boom.” Matt interjected as their father nodded.

 

“Can't let that happen.” Their father chuckled, then winked, as he grabbed his coat and put it on.

 

“Be careful. Drive safe!” Her mother called, as their father responded affirmatively and walked out the door.

 

She watched the entire conversation without speaking a word; opting to pet the family dog who was more than happy to be getting the extra attention.

 

Her mother returned to reading her book by the sofa quietly, as Matt sat nearby writing something on a notebook he was holding.

 

 _Looks like I can call it a night._ She thought, as she slowly stood up and stretched. “I think I'll call it a night myself.” She said, as she tiredly walked back towards the stairs.

“Sleep good Katie.” Her mother smiled warmly, as she nodded and walked back up the stairs.

 

For all intents and purposes, the exchange was as normal as one could get. Like nothing had even occurred that was remotely odd.

 

Once she had made it up the stairs though, she made a mad dash for her room and swiftly shut the door; locking it.

“I'm okay. I'm _okay_.” She repeated the mantra to her shaking hands.

The reality was that she was still freaking out.

 

It was too real. Like someone had placed her into a suburban family simulation and forgot to tell her that's what it was. _It can't be real... Could it?_ She panted, as she rubbed her aching jawline and moved over to where the computer desk was.

 

Her hands flew across the keyboard, unlocking the computer thanks to a sticky note attached to the monitor with the passcode on it, and hastily pulled up the first internet browser she saw on screen.

A swift search later, and she found the answer to her question.

 

Nowhere did the location of her street address or social network appear. Even doing a swift reverse search turned up nothing.

_Her life did not exist…_

She went to bed crying that night.


	3. Chapter 2: You can't fool your brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charades are broken and the truth comes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to update instead of getting my beauty sleep haha...  
> Who needs sleep when you have fiction to write? :D
> 
> Happy Easter everyone~!

Her alarm woke her up the next morning; buzzing loudly in her ear as she cringed and yanked the plug from the wall.

She was awake, there was no need to have _that thing_ wailing at her…

 

She'd slept horribly, her thoughts racing miles and miles away as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do now.

 

 _I don't exist._ She yawned, leaning up to stretch as she fumbled to find the desk lamp and turned it on. _It's like I was wiped from every known database in the universe and relocated to-… This place. Wherever here is…_ She sighed, wincing as a vertebrae popped near her neck and she rubbed it tenderly. _Katie_ clearly didn't sleep very good _at all_.

 

Her mood was slightly better though…

She had moved past the point where she'd cried all her tears out, and now just felt numb… Hollow even, if she had to pick a word that best described it.

 

 _I'm no one._ She sighed, pushing the blankets off her body as she climbed down the ladder and turned on the rest of the lights. _I'm just an imposter in a little girl's body._ She frowned, pushing the rather depressing thought aside as she made her way to the futuristic looking closet to get ready for the morning.

 

 _How do I work this again?_ She frowned, trying to recall anything that might trigger a memory but failed. She relied on simple deduction instead and pushed the beige button next to the closet, triggering the wall to slide sideways and reveal her clothing.

She jumped a little, unused to the sudden swooshing sound that accompanied the closet panel opening, but then relaxed when she realized it was supposed to do that.

 

She wondered what she should wear. Princess dresses were so _out_.

 

She eyed a black short sleeve tank top and a pair of blue jeans that were shoved at the back of the closet and decided that out of all the outfits in there those were her _new favorites_.

 

“Today Katie wears clothes,” She muttered to herself as she reached for where the undergarments were kept in the closet as well. “No more of these dumb looking dresses,” She snorted disgusted at the number of dresses shoved into the area, and pulled her chosen ensemble away from the wall as the closet closed back behind her soundlessly.

Now to find the bathroom.

 

She’d seen her supposed ‘brother’ enter a room across the hall with a toothbrush in hand when she’d went back upstairs yesterday; and assumed he was entering the bathroom to brush his teeth for the night. Her method of deduction seemed to be correct once more, as she mimicked his sleep deprived path and wound up where she had wanted to go.

 

The bathroom, she decided, was comfortably small.

 

A single sink and cabinet took up the front entrance, while the toilet and shower were across from it like a typical suburban guest bathroom would be. Toothpaste tubes were littered about; their green paste trails evident of their many uses on the sink rims.

 

Two cups, a green and purple one, were positioned in the corner next to a bar of soap and two toothbrushes, with colors complimentary to the cups, adjacent from them. Various makeup products, of feminine origin, were gathered in a tray on the other side of that.

 

She assumed _Katie_ must be just as messy as she was good at taking care of her appearance. Which meant she had no idea what went with what, and which objects were Katie’s or Matt’s.

“Welp, until I can figure out exactly _how_ Katie applied makeup, we’re just gonna go without for today.” She spoke to herself, as she squeezed toothpaste on what she prayed was Katie's brush and began to clean.

 

She looked at herself in the mirror as she carefully brushed her teeth. Being so close to a mirror once more reminded her of how very real the situation actually was, and by extension, how much it actually sucked to be stuck in a body nearly thirteen years younger than her actual age.

 

“You know; I hope puberty the second time around is better…” She muttered aloud.

* * *

 

“So what's the occasion?” Matt asked her when she'd come downstairs to eat breakfast.

She blinked confused, as she reached up and saw that she’d found the cabinet she’d wanted, the one that contained all the cereal, on the first try. Thank God.

 

“What do you mean?” She asked, diverting her eyes to pick what kind of cereal she wanted in order to hide the panic written all over her face.

 

“Well…” Matt drawled, as he scooped another bite of _Sugar Flakes_ into his mouth, “You not only woke up early, but came downstairs for breakfast at 10…” He scooped another bite up, “And you're not wearing a dress… So I figured either you’re tinkering, or there's something else.” His face betrayed mischievousness; something she found made her feel rather unnerved as he pointed his spoon towards her in a playful accusatory way.

 

“Oh.” She pulled down a box of _Hexacombs_ , “I just thought I'd try to be punctual for a change,” She lied effortlessly, as she started searching for a cup and bowl.

 

“Uh huh, and the fact that you're fumbling around and not looking me in the face is because…?” Matt had gotten up at this point, getting too close to her personal space for her liking.

 

“Is because I'm trying to find a bowl.” She huffed, beginning to get frustrated between having to lie to Matt and not finding what she was actually looking for.

 

"Bottom drawer, kitchen island; like always.” Matt drawled, as he reached next to the fridge, where another one of those weird walk in closets was placed, and pulled out a glass cup to give to her.

 

“Thanks.” She huffed, as she then went to where Matt had said and found the bowl she wanted.

 

"So, what's the real reason then?” He asked, as he pulled the glass cup from her reach just as she was fixing to pour milk into it.

 

“How about you're _annoying_?” She replied sarcastically, as she reached up to snatch the cup and Matt moved away once more.

 

“It's my job.” Matt smirked as he teased her a bit more and ruffled her freshly combed hair; earning a, annoyed grumble in response.

“Seriously though, if something's wrong, please tell me.” He said with a worried look as he sat down the cup and she just looked at him somewhat surprised.

 

 _Is this how big brothers are supposed to be?? Worried about their little sisters like this?_ She pondered, feeling like there was more to that look he’d given her than she’d picked up on. She cursed her luck that she had to have been born an only child. _Perhaps if I wasn’t I could play it off better_ … She frowned internally.

 

“S-sure thing.” She managed to fumble out of her mouth, as she poured the milk on her cereal at last and picked a place to sit down and eat. _Maybe I should try and ‘tinker’ like Matt said Katie does to keep him from getting so suspicious…_ She thought to herself and she took a sip of milk. _At the very least I hope that doesn’t mean she’s a clothing designer, her outfits choices suck…._ She chuckled inwardly as she began to eat.

* * *

 

Tinkering, it turns out, meant coding things into a computer personalized by Katie herself.

Unfortunately, she sucked at coding.

 

“Of course the one person I'm stuck as _had to be_ _a twelve-year-old genius_.” She pouted, closing windows upon windows of code until she gave up altogether.

 

“Maybe there's a book about coding somewhere…” She mused aloud as she began digging.

It wasn't that she was completely clueless when it came to coding. On the contrary, her job often involved putting in little commands here and there for the kinetic art to move.

Coding for rockets and software was another thing altogether… One she feared that if she didn’t get the hang of she might as well shoot herself in the foot as her whole act dissolved around her.

Thus her search for Katie’s notes continued.

 

 _Surely she kept something on paper or a document in case she forgot!_ She thought to herself as she pulled open drawer after drawer with little success.

 

She'd found a few notebooks, half containing nothing but childlike doodles of rocketships and Disney princesses, the other half useless math equations she couldn’t read; a roll of tape, some old crackers, crayons, and a rubber band ball.

 

While the rubber band ball provided a nice, if brief distraction, from the situation, it still didn't help her get any further with coding.

 

She was considering giving up for the day when she heard the distinct sound of footsteps going up the stairs and panicked.

 

She made a mad dash for the comp, hastily reopening the files containing code, and pretended she was typing something in.

 

Luckily, whoever had walked upstairs had not stopped to enter her room, and she breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed the being had moved on.

Then someone knocked.

 

 _Crap._ She groaned as she spun around in her office chair. “Just a second!” She called, as she quickly reorganized/threw the stuff she'd been digging through back into drawers and quickly shut them. No need in having the place look like a pigsty.

“Ok!” She called back, as the door opened and in came Matt.

 

“Hey. Did I catch you at a bad time?” He asked uncertainly. He seemed to be very much lost in thought over something as he looked around her bedroom while he talked.

 

“Huh? Uh, nope! I was just at a good stopping point.” She lied, pushing the office chair back into its spot as she smiled.

 

Matt didn't seem to be paying attention.

“So, what's up?” She asked, starting the conversation the best she could with the little information she knew about Matt.

 

Matt tilted his head and reached over to rub his neck, perhaps a tic of his, chuckling nervously.

“Well, I just wanted to talk.” He said, anxious energy bouncing off him as she noticed he seemed rather wound up about something.

 

 _Has he caught on?_ She wondered, panic settling over her face as she tried to remain casual despite feeling like ants were crawling up her skin. _Surely he would've said something_. She scolded herself for even believing he’d caught on, as she watched Matt move about and found the ladder of the raised bed to sit on.

 

“Like, how do I put this…” He rubbed his chin, “It's probably not a big deal to you or anything, but I gotta tell you this because I care ok?”  He looked at her serious.

 

“Ok…?” She didn't know what was so important that Matt would feel nervous about talking to her, but chose to respect him as she sat down in the office chair and turned to face the boy.

 

Signaling she was listening, Matt cleared his throat. “Okay so like, you know I'm gonna be gone on the Kerberos mission with Dad and all.” He paused, appearing to wait for a reaction from her that she did not give. “Oh, yeah. I know.” She waved him off as this only made Matt look more concerned.

 

“Yeah.” He said in a flat tone, “So it's going to be seven months without me, just you and mom all by yourself.” His voice sounded off, but she didn't know him well enough to place what it was.

So she feigned innocent, “Your point?” She asked, tired of trying to figure out whatever ‘big point’ he was getting at.

 

He huffed, looking offended as his face grew red. “My point!?” He waved his arms up and down frantically; almost comical as his voice raised an octave or two higher, “My point is that you're _not gonna see me_!” He was nearly shouting now, “Don't you…” His voice hitched for a moment before he caught himself and let out a breath, “You don’t have to pretend you're not upset.” He looked away. “I know it's been your dream to go up into space, and I'm really sorry they wouldn't take you… I just don't like seeing you pretend you're not hurting.” He looked at her worried, “We care about you Katie.” He put a hand on her shoulder.

 

 _What do I do?_ Her brain panicked.

“Matt.” She drawled, her mind racing a thousand miles as she tried to figure out something she could say to console her _brother_. He waited patiently, giving her time to respond.

“I'm not-… Not upset.” She sighed, looking away from him because she hated lying.

 

“Please Katie. Don't lie to me.” He tightened his grip, seeming to read her as he looked about ready to break down and cry.

 

“I'm sorry.” She mustered out, her feelings betraying her rational thought process.

 

“ _Why?_!” He looked at her hurt, “Why won't you tell me what's wrong then?!” His voice raised a few octaves but warbled a bit.

 

She looked away, “I just can't.” She bit her tongue. “You wouldn't believe me anyways.” She whispered to herself, trying to convince her heart that she was right for doing this to him.

 

She found herself suddenly engulfed in a bear hug. “ _Try me_. I am your brother aren't I?” He joked, but it came out more as a slap in the face.

 

“I- I don’t…” Her vision grew misty as she felt tears leaking down her face, “I- I can’t do that to you… _Please._ ” She begged, just wishing for once that he _would listen_. Just walk out of the room and pretend this never happened. She didn’t really know him. It wasn’t like she owed him anything.

 

 _But maybe he could help._ Her heart countered. _Maybe he will understand..._ She tried to believe it. She really wanted to but-,

 

“You don’t have to do this alone you know.” Matt’s voice cut through her inner turmoil like a hot knife through butter, snapping her back to reality as she snuck a look at him and noticed how heartbroken he appeared.

 

 _If I do this…_ She thought. _If I lie to his face he’d believe me._ She realized.

He loved her enough to do anything for her. Even if it meant living a lie just to make her feel better.

 

 _I can’t do that to him._ She grimaced, hugging Matt even tighter as she cried a few more tears then let go… “Alright.” She gave in, “But don't say I didn't warn you.” She turned to face him seriously.

His face matched hers in equal determination, ready for whatever she threw at him.

 _This is it. Make or break time_.

 

She took a deep breath…

…and told him everything.


	4. Chapter 3: Aftershock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, bare with me here because these next few chapters were quite a struggle to write and are mainly transition chapters into the main story.  
> My goal is to slowly get to the canon plot of the series, but things needed to be fleshed out a little before we get there. Bare in mind while I enjoyed writing this, there are some parts that shine above the rest.  
> These are probably the duller parts of the story, but I promise the best stuff is yet to come.  
> Anyways, without further ado, here is another chapter! :3

Matt sat stunned after she'd finished her explanation; not once bothering to interrupt as the words seemed to flow out her mouth automatically.

 _I think I broke him_. She realized a little too late as he just stared at her with a dazed look.

“Uh…” He said for a solid minute as she waited patiently. She knew it’d be a lot to handle and was prepared for any scenario that occurred. _Good, or bad._

“Okay, wow. Just, wow. Hang on a second.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged it gently. “Holy _quiznack_.” He exhaled loudly as he sat back up. “That's a lot to take in.” He noted with a slightly nervous chuckle.

“Obviously.” She pointed out. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I know how much your sister means to you.” She sighed, feeling bad that she couldn’t will herself back from whence she came so he could have her back.

“Woah, hold on!” He interrupted her train of thought, putting his hands on her shoulders. “That is _not_ your _fault_.” He said with a stern look, surprising her.

“But, I-“ Katie opened her mouth to respond,

“Nope! I won't accept it!” Matt shook his head, “Look, you told me you had no clue how you woke up in Katie's body, so it's not your fault that you're here.” His grip tightened reassuringly, “I don't know what happened to Katie, whether you have fugue like you suggested or some bizarre fate of the world decided to screw with you two; but Katie's a strong girl and _I know_ she can handle herself.” He said.

“That being said,” He smiled kindly, “ _You_ need a guide to help you. Someone like me.” He grinned.

She blinked, “Wait. You want to help me _pretend_ to be Katie?” She didn't understand. Why would Matt help her when she was the reason Katie wasn’t here? Should he be angry with her?

Matt laughed, “How about I help you _become someone amazing,_ like Katie.” He smiled again, “My little sister may be a handful, but she always had a good heart when it came down to it.” He shifted the office chair he was sitting in and stood up. “I can tell that you want purpose back again in your life, and Katie was always one to never stop moving.” He stared at her fondly, smiling as if he was in on the world’s biggest secret and was purposefully not telling her. “You would get along nicely with her I think.” He held out his hand to her. “What do you say we go make the world a more incredible place, yeah?” He said with stars in his eyes and determination emanating from his being.

 _I don’t really know much about why I’m here…_ She thought to her herself as she eyed Matt’s open palm. _But finding out why doesn’t help with me getting back._ She realized as she moved her own hand forwards and firmly shook Matt’s hand.

“Welcome aboard _Katie_.” He grinned.

* * *

 

Matt, as it turned out, was just as intelligent as he was nice. Which was a blessing as she struggled to get used to her new lifestyle.

He helped her mimic Katie’s quirks and catchphrases; her mannerisms and tones down to a T.

Simultaneously, he also allowed her to breathe and be her own being without smothering her too much; defending her actions if necessary against those who questioned her while also providing answers when she couldn’t give an explanation.

That was why he always managed to surprise her when she least expected it.

 

He came into her room a few weeks later, throwing several books on her desk with a thump as she turned to look up at him inquisitively from her own readings.

“For coding.” He simply said and shrugged, “It's about time you learned the ropes of the Holt family trade because my sister is getting into the Garrison when she's old enough.” There was a faint hint of a smirk on his lips, but he had most of his face turned away so she couldn't really read into it.

“Also we need to come up with a name for you.” He muttered casually as he turned to leave.

“Huh?!” She said surprised, “Isn't responding to Katie good enough?” She frowned confused.

Matt laughed, “sure, if you want to be _’just Katie’_ ,” He waved his hand, “But you're more than that.” He winked, and with that he walked out of her room leaving her to study.

* * *

 

Digging her way through the books over the week, her mind constantly turned Matt’s suggestion over and over in her mind as she studied.

Apparently, this Earth had the world’s easiest books to read _ever_.

She couldn't believe she had read the first massive tome in under an hour. She began to worry when she’d read five in under three.

It wasn't like her reading skills were above standard, but this… This was _bizarre_.

She didn’t have time to ponder about it much, as the rest of the week flew by with _mandatory family bonding_ as Mr. Holt, her ‘father’, called it when they were playing Monopoly together. “Everyone needs a day to relax from the stresses of life, and this is why we decided to always have a game night each month.” He’d told her when she’d inquired why they had six hours marked off on the calendar in big red penmanship.

This was followed by her ‘mother’ taking her out to shop for some assorted outfits and groceries, as she’d noticed _Katie’s_ behavior change over the past month. “If you wanted to wear more pants you should’ve told me sweetie, I’m more than happy to go with you and get some.” She’d said in the car on their way to the mall. “Also, not that I don’t mind you cutting down on the sweets, are you sure you’re feeling alright? I know you and Matt have been spending a lot of time together before he leaves for Kerberos, but are you sure there’s not something else you’re not telling me?” She asked as they picked out various pants that looked kinda cute but were much more modest than some of the name brand kinds were currently displaying in the shop.

The answer was always the same whenever they asked, “I’m fine, just trying out something different. Yeah, me and Matt have been bonding a lot recently, but that’s just because we’re stocking up on all the sibling love so he’s so sick of it he won’t miss me too badly.” She’d joke, always trying to subtly place the worry elsewhere.

It seemed to work, as no one really questioned the change in her behavior; mostly chalking it up to ‘hormones’ and ‘Katie being Katie’, as one would usually do.

There were some nights that still plagued her though; dreams of her new family finding out the truth and rejecting her, the real Katie returning as a ghost to haunt her and demand her life back. Those dreams she’d wake up either screaming or crying, prompting Matt to jostle awake at the sound of his sister’s distress and come running over to comfort her.

They’d exchange stories on those nights. Matt would tell stories about his adventures at the Garrison with Shiro, their co-pilot, and she would share stories about her other life; sometimes talking about her biological mom, but never discussing what occurred during her nightmares.

In the morning Matt would return to his bed and sleep the next few hours before daylight, and she would curl back up on her bed before he would go, already fast asleep dreaming about numbers and coding.

* * *

 

It only took a few tries before she'd hacked into a government website.

She’d only tried it because she was bored, and frankly, the tutorials she’d been following online had become dull and boring, prompting her to explore other options.

She didn’t think it would work honestly; but when her computer started spitting out top secret files and emails waiting to be downloaded and transferred to her system did she realize how much trouble she was going to get into.

“Is everyone this dumb?!” She cried alarmed as she quickly exited the site and prayed no one had spotted the intrusion from their side of the screen. She ran down to tell Matt, who much to her surprise, looked like he'd met the reaper when she told him.

“How the hell did you manage to do that?!” He exclaimed shocked as she winced and prepared herself for the scolding to come.

Instead Matt began to cackle, his voice rising an octave higher than normal as a grin was creeping up his face. “Can you replicate it?” He asked rather quickly, as she had to do a double to take to make sure that’s really what he had just asked her.  

“Uh yeah, it's literally just an open back door.” She showed him on the screen. It was the reason she’d had brought her laptop downstairs in the first place, hoping he’d have some way of digging her out of this grave she’d made should the FBI come knocking down their door. “I tested it a few other times to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Then I tried the same thing on the local police department site, then the Garrison’s, and then that famous fake newspaper website…” She lowered her voice slightly as she watched their mother walk in to clean dishes, only briefly glancing their way before deciding they weren’t trying to set the house on fire.

“Katie…” He hissed, interrupting their talk as his eyes quickly darted over to where their mom had begun to clean dishes. “Let's go upstairs and talk, ok?” He offered, as they both moved back into her room.

* * *

 

“Okay, now do the Garrison’s website again.” Matt grinned devilishly, goading her on as she groaned tiredly, “Matt, you do realize the more hacking I do here, the more likely someone's going to trace it back to the source.” She pouted.

She could always scramble her IP address again, but really she just wanted Matt to leave her be for now.

“Katie _pleaseeeeeee_.” Mat whined as she groaned.

“Fine! You win!” She threw her hands up in the air, “But this is the last time!” She grumbled as she fished around mounds of code until she found what she was looking for.

A few minutes later, and one last click of her mouse, the masterpiece was complete.

“Behold!” She waved her hand to the monitor and started to read, “We at the Garrison are proud of our outstanding tutors and the genius work they provide for students looking to expand Earth’s horizons. That being said, all students wishing to apply…”

“Must pledge their souls to _Cthulhu!_ ” Matt roared, shaking the back of her chair in mirth, “Oh my crow Katie, I cannot _believe_ -“

“Matt? Come look! Someone hacked into the Garrisons website!” Their mom called from below.

Both Katie and Matt lost it, snickering the whole way down the stairs as they were barely containing their laughter.


	5. Chapter 4: Sibling Love [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Katie' and Matt spend the day together...  
> Cue cute intellectual conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, my gosh guys I'm so sorry this came out so late!!! ;A;
> 
> I've been attending a very high stakes college this year so I've barely had any free time to do much of anything~!  
> Luckily, Labor Day gave me a chance to write this so hopefully you all like it?
> 
> I split this scene up into two parts because it's so long and there's a huge time jump in the middle, so yeah.. :U  
> Who's ready for some sibling bonding?!? :D
> 
> [Also, it's my birthday Thursday so I'm gonna sleep from now until then, k cya~! ;3]  
> \------------------  
> [Edit: 9/3/17 11:40pm] I accidentally deleted half the chapter, so it's back now sorry about that. ;w;''

 

The time for Matt to leave was approaching…

They hardly had much time to talk anymore with Matt often having to spend his nights at the Garrison training for the upcoming mission and Katie trying her darnedest to figure out what she wanted to do with herself in the meantime.

To put it nicely, she was _bored._

 

“I'm not saying that all high schools are all like that…” She drawled, leaning her back against Matt in his bedroom during one of the rare times they had together.

“It's just that, when is it normal to have _all_ your homework completed before school even begins?” She stared up at him quizzically.

Matt snickered, “When you're a Holt nothing's surprising.” He teased.

 

“Shut up Matt!” She laughed, playfully socking him in the shoulder before leaning back to unlock her phone.

She was playing this world’s equivalent of _Pokémon Go_ again, her hacking skills allowing her to bypass having to walk down the road to a stop and collect items.

Sure it was cheating, but frankly, she didn’t care. Her fingers always itched to do something; even if it was playing a much lamer version of Pokémon called _TinyMon_.

 

“You know; I've been thinking…” Matt started.

“Oh boy, that’s never a good thing.” She joked, her face getting rewarded with a smack full of pillow curtsey of Matt.

 

“Seriously! I think I've come up with the perfect nickname!” He grinned.

“Oh?” She blinked, turning her attention towards him. They’d been debating that for a while now; neither side able to come up with something that suited her.

 

“Pidge.” He grinned.

 

“What?” She asked confused.

“Yeah! Like a baby pigeon, you know?” Matt beamed.

“Matt no, they’re called squabs, and also you really want people to compare my likeness to dirty incompetent street bird?!” She gawked at him annoyed.

 

“No, I want to compare you to a _baby pigeon_ , the ones that are really cute and scraggly looking before they mature into birds of prey.” He clarified, like that made it any better.

She made a face that clearly showed it wasn’t, “On what planet do you think squabs are _cute?!?_ ” she asked.

 

 “Well, there are other things I could call you.” Matt grinned mischievously as she just scowled even harder, “I've always wanted to have a sister named pickle-,”

“Oh my God Matt, _shut up_!” She screeched, shoving her own pillow directly in his face and smacking him a few times just for good measure.

 

“Or even S.C., short for Schrödinger’s cat, since you're here and not here.” He snickered, making air quotes as he managed to push the pillow she was holding off his face.

“Neat idea, but still no.” She huffed annoyed as she crossed her arms. “I don’t like being reminded of _exactly_ _how_ I got here. Plus, people could get suspicious.” She countered.

 

“Fine, Pidge it is then.” Matt grinned like a Cheshire.

She groaned and buried her face into the pillow. “Ugh… You're such a _brother_.” She sighed defeated.

Matt laughed and patted her back, “But you love me.” He grinned.

 

She sighed, “Yeah. I do.” She turned and smiled at him while rolling her eyes.

* * *

 

Pidge was enjoying waking up early, combing through her long hair, and making faces in the mirror on a daily basis now. You know, the typical kid stuff she often forgot people her age were doing.

“ _These boots were made for walkin’ and that's just what they’ll do~ One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over yYAAAA_ AHHHH MATT GET OUT!” Pidge screamed, startled by the sudden intrusion in the bathroom.

 

“Singing another _foreign_ song?” Matt winked as Pidge scrambled to find a towel to cover herself.

“It's from Nancy Sinatra, and I'm surprised at the lack of good music _your_ world has.” Pidge frowned as she straightened the towel on herself.

“Guess we'll have to write some more then.” He teased as he walked into the room fully and went about brushing his teeth.

“Better file that under the long list of ‘things that don't exist but need to’.” Pidge frowned as she arranged a few bathroom items that had fallen off in her surprise back to their proper spots. “But seriously, what's got you up so early huh?” She asked, “Don't you like, have the day off? I would relish sleeping in if I were you.” She pointed out.

“Well, I would…” Matt started as he spat his paste out into the sink. “But I've got something planned for the whole day.” He smiled.

“Oh, yeah?” She asked curiously.

“Yeah. It's something cool. I'll tell you about it after I eat.” He leaned up and started rinsing out the sink with water. “By the way, what are you planning on doing today?” He asked, changing the subject to her.

 

Pidge blinked, “Well not much honestly. Figured I'd code a bit and see if I could crack some of the puzzles on the science help boards; maybe help mom with a few chores.” She rattled off the list with practiced ease.

 _“Boo, boring~!”_ Matt teased as Pidge threw her cup at him and he ducked.

“So same old, same, huh?” Matt asked as he leaned over to grab his comb.

 

Pidge nodded, “Heh, yeah, pretty much. You wanna like, play a board game or something later after you return? We haven't done that since the first month I, well, arrived.” She scratched the back of her head, trying her darnedest not to think too much about the past on such a nice day.

“Maybe…” Matt hummed as he straightened his hair, “I'm heading down to make some waffles. Wanna join?” He smiled as he finished combing and set down the comb.

“You know it.” Pidge smiled as she promised she'd be down in a few.

* * *

 

 _“Ok_ , _brother_ , you have to tell me the secret to how in the _quiznak_ you made such good waffles~!” Pidge moaned in delight as she scarfed down the delicious concoction with milk.

“Language, and no syrup?” Matt spoke as he sat down with his plate of waffles across the table.

 

“Sorry, I forget that saying _quiznak_ is the same as saying _fuck_ here. Where in the world did you guys even come up with such a gibberish word? And no, I prefer to eat my waffles dry.” Pidge hummed as she shoved more bread like goodness into her mouth.

“Well personally _fuck_ sounds like a made up word, where _ahem_ , _quiznak_ is derived from two derogative words, _quit_ and _nark_ , to create the ultimate slang for the word _idiot_. Also, I find it curious seeing someone who doesn't want to have _some type_ of sugary confection on their waffle.” He hummed in fascination as he poured some syrup on his own waffles, “Katie used to drown them in syrup, causing us to often run out before the week was over...” He mulled in thought as he took a bite of his food.

_“_ Well, I for one have never been a fan of sugar except in minute quantities myself.” Pidge hummed as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “But for the sake of things, I can humor you and drown them in syrup if you like.” She smirked as she eyed Matt and reached over for the syrup bottle.

“That's quite alright!” Matt snatched the bottle before she could reach it at her laughably slow pace, “Katie needs to care for her teeth better anyways!” He chided as Pidge groaned and took another bite.

 

They continued to eat in silence for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts before Matt broke the silence again.

 

“So they're showing _Light Wars: Episode 17_ later tonight, and seeing how we've both been looking forwards to it, I figure tonight was a good night to see it while I'm off.” Matt offered.

Pidge blinked surprised, “Really? You don't mind taking me or anything?! No catch?” She eyed him expectedly.

Matt chuckled, “No, I just wanted to spend some time with my sister…” He smiled, “It's going to be a long time you know, and frankly I may not get another rest before the mission…” He thought aloud.

 

“Sold!” Pidge whooped in excitement, “I'll go change!” She stood up and ran off to her bedroom only having half eaten her breakfast. Matt shook his head and grinned, collecting both plates and cleaning them off at the sink.

* * *

Between the two of them bouncing around from store to store in the mall window shopping, and Pidge downing an entire milkshake before they got to the theater; Pidge didn't really know if she was going to have enough energy to stay awake for the movie Matt was taking her to.

Still, she was excited to see it, and this would likely be the last time she'd have the whole day alone with Matt for at least a whole year.

 

“So do you think Queen Louise is going to make another appearance this time?” Matt asked excited as Pidge shrugged, not knowing.

“Dude, I've not seen the others so I don't know.” She realized that was a bit harsh after she said it, “Well, that is-… Judging by how most movie plots go back ‘home’, I'd say yes, queen Lousie is going to appear.” She smiled, mentally patting herself on the back for the save.

 

 

Matt looked at Pidge shocked, as later it turned out to be true that Pidge had guessed the ending. “ _How did you know that?!?_ ” He asked astonished as Pidge yawned in boredom.

“Power of deduction.” She grinned, “If a character makes a big appearance in a previous show but doesn't die they're bound to show up again. Also, considering that the movie was three hours long she was bound to show up _sometime_. The movie wouldn't be complete without some form of conflict.” She explained.

Matt laughed and shook his head, “Never in my life did I think Katie Holt would become a fortune teller…”

 

“ _Hey!_ ” Pidge screamed annoyed.

Matt laughed as she chased him all the way out the exit.


	6. Chapter 5: Sibling Love [Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come for the crutch to be removed and the child to stand on her own two feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I said I'd update this weekend and I delievered~! Yay! :D
> 
> This chapter is... Intense.  
> There's a lot of emotional trauma going on, and actual canon stuff happening to Pidge, which together makes a well of emotions happening throughout the chapter.
> 
> There's some brief mentionings about death and loss and slight body horror, so for anyone who doesn't like that kind of stuff it is advised you read at your own risk.  
> Also, there's a small paragraph about 'puke', so yeah.  
> \--------  
> Anyways, I just wanted to say that I'm super excited to start getting into the actual canon storyline of the show and have you guys seen the Season 4 trailer for Pidge yet?! All I can say is that my fondness for this shows grows tenfold each season. <3
> 
> [Sidenote: I forgot to mention how excited I am that alternate dimension traveling is canon in the series! So technically this story could be considered semi-canon??? :O Just food for thought... I thought it was pretty neat that I hit the nail on the head before it was a thing! :3]

Three days…

Three days until Matt and Katie's father Sam leave Earth to go on a seven-month trip to Kerberos and back.  
It was a nerve-wracking event for everyone.

Between Matt trying to prepare and ‘Katie’ adjusting to life without Matt, Pidge felt rather overwhelmed.  
_It’s hard to imagine living here long term, much less the rest of my entire ‘childhood’._ She grimaced at the thought, pushing it away for the current moment.

“You're not gonna screw up.” Matt chided, “You said it yourself that you were rather successful in your other dimension. You know how to talk to people, and you don't slip out of character.” He zipped up his luggage, “Stop worrying, your adventure in life is only beginning.” He grinned.

Pidge wished she could share his enthusiasm…

“Yeah. Adventure…” She hummed to herself as the boy walked out of the room to place the luggage in the utility room.

* * *

 The next day mostly went by in a blur for Pidge.

Between helping Matt make sure he wasn't forgetting anything, to spending time with her dad because, and he would never admit it but Pidge could read it on his face, he would miss her; it was nearly supper time before she'd even realized how much time had actually passed.

This served to make her even more gloomy the longer she thought about it. She attempted to hide it as the turkey was passed around the table.

 

“Dig in everyone! I thought you three could use a treat for how hard you've worked today.” Colleen hummed. Pidge did have to admit; the food was good.

“Better enjoy it while you can Matt because after tomorrow's launch we'll have nothing but freeze-dried peas to eat for two months.” Their dad joked.

Matt laughed, “Oh come on dad, you know you love those peas.” He grinned.

Mr. Holt laughed, “I do have to admit, those lab boys sure do know how to make a good genetically modified vegetable.” He said.

Pidge felt her heart sink even lower at the thought and sighed, “I wish I was going with you.” She all but whispered. Not that she would ever admit it, but she was scared to be alone. How would other girls perceive her when she went back to school? What constituted as normal behavior and not normal behavior here? She didn’t want to be the outcast _again._

As if sensing her dismay, Sam turned towards her and smiled kindly. “Now Just you wait, kiddo.” He tutted, “Something tells me that you're going to have your own crew someday. You're going to fly with them to worlds so far away, we can't even imagine. I bet my bottom dollar you're going to be part of something that makes the whole universe sit up and take notice” He chuckled kindly as he enthusiastically waved his arms about.

The fact that he acted so sure of himself and that nothing but warmth seemed to ooze off his face and into the room made Pidge take pause. She looked over to Matt briefly to see he too wore the same look on his face.

_Trust him._ He seemed to be saying, _you have so much more talent than you give yourself credit for_. Pidge then turned back to their father and let out a sigh internally.

_Okay. I trust you._ She looked up to meet her father’s eyes, _but more importantly, I am going to trust in my own abilities_. She thought to herself, the weight lifting from her shoulders. The frown shifted up, and for the first time, _Pidge_ smiled.

“Thanks, Dad.” She said genuinely.

* * *

 “Bye! Love you! Don't do something stupid!” Pidge yelled as the men got into a garrison issued car and waved.  
“Same to you too Katie!” Matt yelled as Pidge stuck out her tongue.

The time for talking was over. In mere seconds the car rolled out onto the highway and was gone.

Fear instantly hit Pidge as she tried her hardest to push it away. _Not now,_ she argued with herself; swallowing down the lump in her throat.  
She found a hand on her shoulder, snapping herself out of her internal turmoil for the moment.

 “They'll be fine,” Colleen said as Pidge sighed, still staring at where they left.

“Yeah. I know.” She muttered as she let her mom guide her back inside.

* * *

 The one thing that hadn’t changed for Pidge was the fact that she was never really got bored. Even though Matt was in space, Katie couldn't keep enough projects on her to do list.  
That was one perk of inhabiting a thirteen-year old’s body; tons of adrenaline.

By now she was coding like no tomorrow, running a small business on the sidelines under the name _YvetalTheDestroyer46_ , and raking in a fair amount of cash creating programs on the fly.

But even that wasn't enough to sate her hunger.

As Katie, Pidge found herself exhibiting both traits of her lives. She retained Katie’s skills in coding and programming but kept many of her old habits as Pidge. She had yet to discover a way back, but at the rate she was going, it would only be a matter of time. And she _loved_ a challenge.

Luckily her subtle changes in behavior went unnoticed for the most part.  
Given that she was holed up in her room on most days, no one bothered to pay much attention to her ‘hiccups’ in routine.

Of course, just when things are going right life throws you a curveball.

* * *

It happened late one summer night while they were sleeping.

A relative had called and woken up Mrs. Holt to inform her to turn on her television.  
Pidge had been asleep at the time but had awoken to the sound of the television suddenly echoing through the hallway at a rather loud volume and got up to investigate. 

[“- _Galaxy Garrison mission to the distant moon of Kerberos is missing, and all crew members are believed to be dead. The Galaxy Garrison has said the crash was presumably caused by pilot error. It is indeed, a sad day for all humanity._ ”] The speakers blared as Pidge stopped dead in her tracks on the staircase.

Pictures appeared on the screen, one of her father, one of that other guy named Shiro who was the copilot her family always talked about, and one of _Matt_.

 

_Dead dead dead **dead**.  
_ The words echoed in her mind.

_They couldn't be dead. God…_ **_Please…  
_** She backed up a bit in disbelief and nearly stumbled on the stairs. _Pilot error? But they had been so careful…_ Pidge thought to herself.  _Matt had even programmed a fail-safe AI to activate if things went south_. She shook her head as more details of the event were told. She didn’t want to hear them.

She ran back into her room as quietly as she could without crying. She couldn't handle it. They just couldn't be _gone_. She didn't want to believe that, she _couldn’t_ believe that.

A nightmare began to form in her head. Images of a burning ship and their voices screaming, crying out for help. A zoomed in feed of Matt’s face burning, melting from the fire and becoming fused to the chair.

God, she hoped it was all a bad dream.  
The color drained from her face as she hovered over the trash can and began to dry heave.  
She didn't have the energy to move, to check the news on her phone and see the full story. She was paralyzed, grief-stricken to the point she was in shock.

A few tears streaked down her face as she just sat there on the bed. _They can't be dead,_  She whispered. _It’s got to be a mistake_.  
She kept repeating the words over and over, assuring herself through the hollow lie that things were going to be okay. Eventually exhaustion took over as she sat there, and she passed out.

* * *

_She dreamed for the first time in a long while, or perhaps for a long time in which she remembers. She was in space, wearing an astronaut suit attached to supply string which was connected to a ship. She turned to see that below her was her father and Matt moving various equipment around and briefly stopped to look up and wave at her.  
_ _She waved back._

_In the blink of an eye something black hid the light from the surface of the planet below. In the time it took her to readjust her visuals Matt and her father were no longer in sight.  
_ _Their hollow spacesuits remained floating on the planet, static crackling and hissing through her coms as she assumed that meant a line had been disconnected or interfered with somewhere down the line._

_"ByE piDgE…” Matt’s voice echoed behind her as she turned to see a park bench facing her on solid ground._

_“Matt?” She called out confused as the sound of leaves rustling about caught her attention once more. A familiar arm stuck out from underneath the bench and waved. She moved to call out, but the arm slid back underneath the bench and vanished from view._

* * *

 She gasped, waking up in a cold sweat from the dream to find the sunlight peeking through her window and her alarm clock declaring it to be nine a.m.

She groaned as she flopped back in bed and cursed internally as she realized she'd overslept.  
_I’ve got to get moving…_ She told herself as she forced her limbs to move.  
_Matt wouldn’t want me to waste away_ … Her breath caught in her throat and she fought down a hiccup and took a deep breath.

_Focus, just get dressed and head downstairs._ She coaxed herself as she sat up and rubbed her tired eyes.  
_You’re not the only one who needs a shoulder to lean on…_

 

When she went down for breakfast, Pidge was surprised to find that her mom had cooked waffles.

“Katie… I have something to tell you.” Her mom’s voice shook as Pidge realized what she was going to say.

“I know, mom.” She interrupted.

 

Briefly, her mom paused what she was doing, looking at her daughter with glazed eyes before she let out a heart-wrenching wail and collapsed on the floor utterly heartbroken; shattered dishes and spilled food temporarily forgotten about.

Pidge didn't quite know what she should do. Taken back by the sudden amount of emotion she was witnessing, she was reminded of a similar scene when her uncle had died in her other life. It had shaken the family rather hard and things were never quite the same after that.

She decided to just crouch down with her mom and envelop her in a hug; saying nothing as the woman wailed on…  
She wanted to cry too. She wanted to believe that this hadn’t happened and that the kindest person in her life hadn’t just up and vanished. But not right now. She couldn’t support her mother if she broke down as well.

So instead she suffered in silence, biting down a sob every time Colleen started up again.

* * *

Breakfast was mostly forgotten until an hour later when Colleen got up and left the room. Pidge had a feeling that she'd be gone for most of the day, so she helped herself to the rest of the waffles.

_I know it takes time to heal_. She thought to herself as she put the waffles back into the microwave to warm them up. _I’m just kind of… Numb? No, dissatisfied_. Pidge frowned as she watched the seconds slowly tick by on the screen with the hum of the instrument droning on.

_It just doesn’t add up…_ She frowned, as the microwaved dinged and she took out her breakfast. _Why wouldn’t the Garrison call us as soon as this happened? Don’t they have an emergency contact list for these kinds of things?_  
Idly, she knew that couldn’t be the case. 

_Either they’re slacking on the job or…_  
“Someone’s covering their ass…” She hissed as she put two and two together right as she bit into a rather hot portion of the waffle and swore loudly.


	7. Chapter 6: The Truth is out there... and it hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge meets with Iverson to discuss what really happened to her family...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, I'm back from the dead again with another update~! 
> 
> This one's a mess, please forgive me for breaking Pidge's heart, I had to do it so the story could go on.  
> There's a lot of swearing and emotional stress in this chapter, just fair warning... I know that's been like the last three chapters already, but eventually we'll get to happier times! <:3
> 
> Holy crow guys, I've had to like, rewrite this scene so many times so forgive me for all the time skips, most of y'all know the plot of the show so I think you'll forgive me for not stretching this out longer than need be.  
> I have at least six different ways this played out on file but decided on 'angsty Pidge' for this chapter because frankly, Pidge deserves better than the way Iverson treats her.  
> Also, um sorry for the way I portray Iverson in the chapter. You can't tell me you guys didn't have the same thoughts too. ( ͡° ل͜ ͡°)

In the garage sat a bike that belonged to Katie Holt. In the garage sat a bike that belonged to Katie Holt, _not_ Pidge.

Staring at the bike, Pidge carefully reached over and donned the bike helmet as she took a deep breath to calm herself. Pidge liked to think that if Katie _was_ here, she wouldn’t mind. Pidge liked to think a lot of things, but she told herself to shut up.

Right now she was on a mission. A mission to speak with a man named _Mr. Iverson_.

 

 

The Garrison hadn’t really changed since the last time she’d stepped foot in the military complex a month ago with Matt and Dad. It was big, spacious, and had absolutely no personality.

Most of the center was open for the public to explore, as it brought in the funds to help maintain the place and kept the investors interested in expanding the field of study for space explorations. There was a trade school in one of the buildings for inspiring pilots and engineers to attended, and a fully functional shuttle bay and launch pad nearby. But most important was the base on campus, the one adjacent to the lab and launch pad where Matt and their Dad spend countless hours working. This is where Pidge was escorted to as they paged for Iverson.

She was lead to a meeting room and told to wait. Pidge idly tapped her nails on the laminate table as she mentally went down her checklist.

1). Get the 411 on where Matt and Dad are.

2). Get explanation as to why they weren’t called about the ‘deaths’ of the pilots before the public media announced this.

3). Gently remind the staff that it’s probably _not_ a smart idea to leave a 12-year-old unattended in a conference room.

Fumbling with her bag she brought, Pidge carefully slid out her homebuilt laptop from its protective casing and connected to the internet. Firewalls immediately bombarded her screen as she breezed over them like ants under her feet until she’d gotten access to most of the screens the Garrison used.

Her hands hovered over the keyboard but she did not move. There was no need to dig into anything, _yet_ … Hopefully, this was all a misunderstanding, and Pidge wouldn’t need to dive into the system to find what she was looking for. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she was not against hurting others if they stood in her way. She was _going_ to get the information, though she preferred to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

A knock on the door indicated Iverson had arrived. Pidge quickly stashed the laptop away as he entered the room. “Miss Katie Holt I presume?” The man asked as Pidge turned to look at him.

His face had a large scar that went over his left eye and kept it closed. His uniform was wrinkled and his hat was slipping off. For all intents and purposes, the man looked _tired_ , though why was anyone’s guess. Personally, Pidge liked to think it was due to dealing with the various investors complaining about the failure of the mission, but secretly she hoped it was from him actually trying to look for what really happened to her family. Either way, she addressed him with a quick nod, “Yes, that’s me, sir.” She said politely as the man sat down at the table…

 

* * *

 

 

 

 _“Fucking dammit!_ ” She cursed as she heaved up breakfast and pounded her fist on the back part of the toilet. She was shaking, her form hunched over the lip of the seat as she tried to hold back more vomit. “That _asshole_ is just gonna take his information about _my brother_ to his grave.” She hissed, spitting a bit of bile from her mouth into the toilet as she felt her muscles shake a bit less afterward.

“Who the hell even does that? He's _my brother! My **family!**_ ” She yelled, pounding her fist against the wall until it turned red and raw.

 

Iverson had done everything in his power to hide the truth from her. Sure, he’d apologized, told her they’d pay to have a funeral in place for them in a few months, but that wasn’t what she’d wanted. Every time she tried to question him about what had happened he shut her down.

“Little girls shouldn’t think about such gruesome things.”

“It’s the least we can do to honor your father and brother.”

“Tell you what, how about I ask your mother if we can get everyone who worked with them together and have an ice cream party? Wouldn’t that make you feel better?”

“We’re always here if you need anything.”

 

Bull. _SHIT_ _._

Ignoring the fact that Iverson was being _exceptionally_ creepy towards her, and wow, _fuck_ it might’ve not been a good idea to go alone into the Garrison _why didn’t anyone say anything-_ , he was not going to give her the answers she needed.

So here she was, throwing up all the sensation of _wrong_ into her bathroom toilet as she tried to suppress her sobbing. _She was never going to find her family_. Iverson wasn’t going to tell her shit.

Eventually, she managed to compose herself long enough to wipe off the vomit on her face and clean up. If the Garrison wasn’t going to be of any help, then she was on her own.

 

 

 

Given that most of the security was rather lax compared to what she was used to in her other life, Pidge had easily hacked into the Garrison’s main computers after she had left the conference room. Unfortunately, the files regarding the Kerberos mission were not located on the main computers, and Pidge didn’t have the time to thoroughly comb through everything in case she’d missed something.   

So instead she opted to check Iverson’s main computer next time she went. And there would _be_ a next time, just with some backup to help distract Iverson... 

 

Colleen was more than happy to accompany her daughter to the Garrison after Pidge had asked.

“Of course you’d want to know what happened. I do too.” She’d put on a smile, but Pidge could tell it was forced. The woman had been barely keeping it together for weeks, and as far as Pidge knew only her and their dog seemed to be keeping her going.

She’d awoke one night to find her just staring at Pidge… As if she was going to float away the moment she took her gaze off her. It was unnerving, but eventually, Colleen had gone back into her own room after Pidge didn’t move. She’d never told her she’d actually been awake during that time. She didn’t know if she ever wanted to…

So here they were, one week later at the Garrison doing the same thing Pidge had tried to do. Get answers. But this time Pidge was taking a more daring approach.

 

Iverson was not the one who greeted them at the entrance, but rather a man named Tim who showed them the way to another conference room by which Iverson would meet them at.

Pidge wasted no time in quickly excusing herself.

“I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back.” She said as quickly and politely as she could without giving away her intentions in her tone of voice.

They let her go without a word, trusting that a ‘little girl’ could not get herself into trouble by the time it takes to go to the bathroom. How foolish they had been.

 

She'd done it. Hands shaking, trying her hardest to control her heavy breathing, she made her way down the hall into the first main office building of the garrison. ~~~~

No one was around, which wasn’t that surprising. It was peak performance hour for the Garrison, and most of the workers would be out and about entertaining guests or teaching classes, including Iverson who had likely left to meet them at the conference room by now.

Pidge said nothing as she entered the area, waiting in the shadows for a few moments to make sure there was no one around, before slowly crawling into the office room labeled ‘Iverson’.

Booting up the computer, she immediately shoved her USB into the port and let the firewall decoder run as she kept an eye out for movement.

“This one’s for Matt.” She whispered to herself, her voice carrying rather far in the quiet of the room.

The decoder only took a few seconds to load and then opened the home page while blasting out a startup noise.

Pidge nearly shit herself and she hastily unplugged the speaker jacks from the monitor. “ _Fucking fuck!”_ She swore, as she put a hand on her chest and steadied her breathing.

Silence. She stood stock still for a few moments longer and thanked God no one had been around to hear the noise. Satisfied, she went to work.

 

“Videos… Videos… Pictures from Hawaii, ah! Kerberos mission!” Pidge smirked as her trusty assistant program highlighted files of interest and Pidge clicked on them.

The first few were rather uneventful. The droids sent to monitor the ship followed closely behind as the ship sailed on. Pidge scrolled through until she got to the ones marked around the time they should have landed, and played those.

_Most of the pre-landing involved Matt joking around with Sam and Shiro about random stories. Pidge even listened in embarrassment as he retold the time she'd got her hair stuck in the paper shredder and had to call Colleen for help. They all chuckled._

 

Scrolling ahead, Pidge found the videos of their first few days on Kerberos.

 

_The crew members were all still alive and kicking, moving and unpacking various things while taking samples of the ice. According to the logs, they checked in around this time, which was about 45 minutes after the reported time of their disappearance._

Fast forward, _they were discussing possibly setting up the mining-_

A click, the tell-tale sound of fluorescent lights coming on, as Pidge squinted and hastily jerked the USB out of the drive.

 

“ _What are you doing?!_ ” A voice, _Mr. Iverson_ , demanded, as Pidge realized she had been caught.

“Those drone feeds of yours show the Kerberos pilots _alive_!” Pidge yelled. Anger, backed by a strong sense of righteousness, rattled from her throat as she challenged the one before her who had lied to her.

“Those _feeds_ are highly classified.” Iverson spat back, angry but not displaying outer signs of weakness. “And on a need-to-know basis.” He said as he snapped his fingers and two men that were accompanying him came over and grabbed Pidge's arms.

She thrashed wildly, angry at the world and angry at herself for being too weak to do much else to find her family. “You won't keep me out!” She spat, trying, toying with anything that would give her a sense of leverage over the man. “I'll keep coming back. I'll never stop! Not until I find the truth! _Do you hear me?!_ ” She snarled, as Iverson merely snorted but did not turn around.

 _“_ Guards _, escort_ Miss Holt off the premises.” He said coolly, as their grip got tighter on Pidge's arms and made her wince slightly. “Make sure she doesn't come back.” His voice had an edge to it.

Pidge felt herself being dragged, but at the moment she was too desensitized to the sound of her own voice screaming incoherently at Iverson as they took her away to care much. Fire burned in her chest as she realized that tears were now mixed into her screams of fury. One of the guards attempted to quiet her as they passed a group of confused students by covering her mouth with his hand, but she bit it, making him curse but not drop her sadly.

Soon enough she was returned to her mom, as they informed her of the trespass and were told to leave the premises. Pidge said nothing as Colleen tried asking her daughter what had happened, but the girl was beyond reasoning at this point as she glared daggers at the Garrison.

 

She cried when they got back home.

 

* * *

 

If there was one thing Pidge was good at, it was resourcefulness.

It would never fill the hole in her heart that Matt had left before he _vanished_ , but tinkering with code and programming robots in her downtime helped keep her mind away from the ache so much.

By now she shouldn't have been surprised to find an acceptance letter to the Garrison in her email without even applying.   
“Congratulations Mr. Pidge Gunderson for getting accepted into Galaxy Garrison, 145 Desert Rd”, she read aloud as she scrolled down. It was a fully-fledged ride to the technician/pilot major under the Garrison. Of course, there were a few requirements Pidge would have to oblige by, but that was beside the point.

With Dad and Matt gone from the program, they needed people like her more than ever to fill that role. Pidge had been going by her pseudo nickname online in as many sites as she could get away with without being discovered. She ran a small business coding for various clients when she wasn’t in school. She was only thirteen, soon to be fourteen in a few months, but plenty old enough to be accepted into the Garrison if she chose...

She laughed. The ache hadn't quite healed, but she'd thought she was over the Garrison. She'd tried everything to stay away from the place, similar to how breakups usually went she supposed, yet here they were knocking on the door unknowingly begging her for help. A brilliant idea began to form in her head.

 

“So they want me, eh? Alright, I'll play their game.” She smirked, sending back a confirmation email.

She was going to give them what they wanted. A new technician. Not only would it provide her with something to give her mind a challenge, but the access to basically anything and everything related to finding Matt was too promising to turn down.

  
Wait. They had sent the letter to _Mr_. _Pidge Gunderson_ , not _Ms. Katie Holt_. “Quiznak, what was I thinking?!” She swore, already scrambling to try and correct her mistake in the email, but it was too late. She’d officially applied to the Garrison as a male student. _Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-_

 

* * *

 

Pidge knew that if she was really going to pull off that she wasn't Katie Holt, she had to do something about her look. She'd never really bothered much with personal care before she became Katie, but now it seemed she would be proven wrong. She’d have to give herself a makeover if she even wanted to convince her mother that she wasn’t the same person.

Starting with her hair…

 

She tugged on it, feeling the thin strips in between her fingers. For the most part, she kept her hair up in a ponytail so it wouldn't drag. Now though, she worried. If she walked in there sporting this look they'd for sure know it was her. No, the hair had to go.

Slowly, she picked up the scissors and examined her face in the mirror. _This will be the last time in four years you’ll see Katie Holt,_ she thought to herself as she eyed where she needed to cut. "First day of school. Time for a haircut." She chuckled sadly, as she lined up where her part was and quietly snipped away the first swatches of hair.

It only took about a half hour to cut and shape her hair in a fashion that she liked. It was short and had a slight curl on the tips of her strands, but was wild looking and various sections flared out like a lion’s mane. It was definitely a boy’s hairstyle. She laughed as she eyed Matt’s spare glasses that he hadn’t used in months lying next to the sink and tried them on.

“I have no clue what I look like.” She chuckled as she looked up in the mirror. Her vision blurred as her eyes crossed in an unnatural fashion on her face. She snapped a quick picture with her smartphone before pulling off the glasses afterward to look at the picture.

 

She froze shocked at what she saw.

“Holy _crow_ , give me a few more inches and less makeup and I'd be him.” She gasped to herself as she examined her hair once more in the mirror.

It occurred to her how odd it was that she looked so similar to him with her hair short. Was it just a family thing or something unique? Being an only child before, she'd never had to think about sibling resemblance until now…

“Someday I'll find you.” She glanced back at the mirror and spoke, imagining Matt behind the reflection, listening. “You and dad both… Just keep holding on. Wherever you are.” She stuttered, fluffing her hair out once more and donning a serious face.

“Game time.” She said as she shut the door to the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

She'd never been so nervous in her life.

Lying to strangers was one thing, lying to a parent was another.

In the end, she’d settled for a half lie, claiming she was sick and wanting to get some bed rest for the night. Colleen was considerate enough to leave her be, reminding her that if she needed anything to come get her.

Pidge was grateful the woman didn’t come to check on her.

She spent the rest of the night packing, staying up well past midnight to book a hotel with her money and a bus to take her there. She didn’t want any trace of where she was going left behind.

Printing out the travel tickets, and fake ID, she quickly deleted her browsing history and checked the clock.

“2:04. The bus doesn’t run until forty minutes from now.” She’d give herself a few moments of thought before she left. She quietly checked to make sure all the equipment she was taking were bereft of traces of her location, and once satisfied she left her room with her backpack and suitcase in tow and left the house.

 

“Sorry, mom.” She apologized once she was a good distance away from home. “If I could tell you the truth I would. _God_ , I suck at this. I’m sorry. You don’t deserve any of this. I have to leave. Matt’s still out there somewhere, I just know it. I have to find out.” She switched to internally apologizing once she made it into town, _you don’t deserve me. I’m not your daughter, I’ve always been able to take care of myself but now? Now, I just really need Matt. If he’s gone that’s fine. But I can’t just sit around and wait when he could be in trouble. I’m sorry, but this is my way of coping._ She scowled as she quickly gave the bus driver her ticket and pulled out her phone. It would be awhile until they stopped at her motel, she might as well relax while she waits.

 

* * *

 No one stopped to help her as she checked into the Garrison. No one looked at her, bothered her, or really even noticed she was there save for the employees trying to round up the high school kids into the dorms.

Pidge sighed relieved as she accepted her key and moved on, calling upon the silence and quiet to be her blanket of invisibility. She was in. Now came the hardest part.

 

As she turned the keys to her _shared room_ a dozen thoughts ran through her head.

She was now Pidge Gunderson. Son of the now deceased Hamilton Gunderson who only existed on paper and a forged online birth certificate.

He liked spacecrafts, engineering, and Legos (even in this dimension the hell spawns of plastic exist); and he had no time for tomfoolery.

 

During the first five months, Pidge would work under a double major schedule. Taking part of the time training how to pilot a ship with a crew, and the other part working on learning how to program robots and machinery from the inside out until evening.

The next seven months would be mostly uninterrupted programming time with other garrison scientists, should the evaluation of the previous months go well.

With her luck she should be out of here before then, having gleaned enough information she needed from the heads of her department thanks to her swooning underneath their feet like a lap dog. She would behave like a good little student and then would do her own bidding when their eyes were turned. No screw-ups this time. This was her very last chance.

 

For now, she flopped down on the pillows laying on the bottom bunker and sighed tiredly. Today was going to be one hell of a long day…


	8. Chapter 7: The Stars Are Aligning [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step." - Haruki Murakami

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Long time no see!  
> Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy this little update! :D
> 
> Sorry for the long wait, I'm sorting through some real-life problems at the moment and I've been really depressed because of it, but I'm powering through it just the same!  
> Having said that, my classes start back Monday, and I'd feel awful if I didn't at least give you guys a taste of what's to come.  
> I considered making this chapter longer, but I'd already written a lot for this part and decided to split it into at least two, possibly three, sections for convenience.
> 
> Hoo boy, please forgive my Spanish here, I got it off of Google Translate so if there's any grammar mistake I apologize. Also, feel free to leave corrections or better replacements for the sentences if you think something needs rewording! I'm open to suggestions!  
> Also, there's like this strange language I made up for the end part here, so I'll be leaving little translation hints where I can, but try and see if you can figure it out!
> 
> First hint: Its structure is identical to English.
> 
> Have fun~! :D

It seemed that luck would have it that she walked right into her roommates as she went to check the dorm room listings.

 

A tall, lanky loudmouth of a boy was hogging the viewing space of the cork board as she tried to read from behind him.

“Suck it, Keith! Too bad for you, since you got expelled I get to take your place!” He did a nifty little dance, as the large boy beside him look uncomfortable by the performance.

 

“That's great Lance, really… Now can we check who we're bunking with so I can go?” Pudgy man asked shyly as the lanky boy, Lance, stopped his dancing.

 

“Yeah, sure. Let's see here, Lance, Hunk…. Okay, who the heck is Pidge Gunderson?” Lance asked as he nearly rammed his elbow into Pidge's face while she tried to lean around him.

 

Biting down a yell of shock, she quickly composed herself and decided to speak up. “Um, that's me.” She said simply, still processing that these two boys would be her new roommates. _Could've gotten worse I suppose. Lance will probably be the worst one to deal with. Seems nosy._ She crinkled her nose briefly before remembering she was having a conversation.

 

“Wow, kinda on the short side…” Lance said, sizing her up.

Pidge bit down the embarrassment as she reminded herself it was perfectly normal for guys to behave this way to other guys, and instead funneled her shock into a comeback.

 

“And your point?” She raised an eyebrow, pretending to be indifferent to him.

 

“Um, sorry… I guess I was just expecting a muscle man with your kinda name.” He admitted, rubbing the back of his head like he was some kind of anime character with a bad fidget habit.

 

“What he means is it’s nice to meet you Pidge.” The pudgy boy shoved Lance hard as he stuck a hand out for Pidge to shake.

 

“You to uh-“, Pidge asked as she shook his hand.

 

“Hunk.” The boy helped as he gave her a hard handshake that nearly tore her arm off. Pidge made a mental note to avoid any fights with the guy if possible.

 

“Hunk...” She tested the name out loud and smiled, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

This was going to be an interesting year…

* * *

 For the first week Pidge didn't see much of her dorm mates as they all had mandatory preliminary testing to do, and measurements for various outfits they would need for the years ahead.

 

Pidge was thankful that she was one of the last to go through measurements, as it gave her enough time to purchase a binder to avoid suspicion about her actual gender for when they took her measurements.

Part of herself hated getting up and having to put the binder on since she was a growing girl still and using a binder might deform her still growing body, but she knew if she didn't want to get caught she had to.

 

Luckily, no one caught on.

 

 

 

Pidge liked to think she made friends rather easily. Liked to think that, but reality could be a harsh bitch when it wanted it to be.

By the time the third week came around, Lance decided he was bored with her introverted behavior and consistently bugged the snot out of her while she was in the dorm…

 

“So apples or grapes?” He said while they were sitting.

Pidge ignored him and continued typing away, thinking to herself.

 

“Just pick one. Seriously, apples or grapes?” Lance poked her in the side, making her react as she bit back a yell.

She turned, looking at him angrily as she noticed the smug look on his face. “Why are you asking me this?” She said unamused, as Lance leaned back casually.

 

“You haven't said a word to either of us other than a simple hello or goodbye, and me and Hunk are at least trying to bond, so I need something I can relate with.” He explained.

 

“Oh, uh… Grapes I guess.” Pidge answered as she realized she hadn't meant to ignore her roommates for so long. Weren't bros supposed to have things to joke about? That's what she assumed guys did anyway…

 

“Noted. I’m actually a grape kind of person myself.” Lance leaned back as Pidge sighed relieved that at least he wasn't the kind of guy who judged too harshly.

“Whatcha doing with those numbers?” Lance asked as he turned to look at her work.

 

“Coding.” Pidge explained, “I actua-“

“Ugh, nerd stuff. I could never get into that.” Lance interrupted, “All I care about is flying.” He waved his arms around excited.

 

Pidge nodded, not sure what else to say or do. “An admirable goal.” She agreed.

 

“Hey I brought back some calzones from the cafeteria, does anyone want some?” Hunk took this time to enter in with a plate of twenty small sized calzones.

 

Pidge smiled excitedly, “Yeah, I'll take three.” She said as hunk bent down to let her pick some up _._ Perhaps having roommates wouldn't be so bad if they were going to provide her snacks like this…

* * *

 Having roommates _sucked_.

Pidge forgot how annoying teenaged boys were when they were bored.

 

Point in case. It was the week before their first big pilot test and Lance was _losing it_.

 

“What if I fail? What if the teachers hate me and give me a zero? What if-“, He would continue to ramble on like this when he thought no one was looking.

 

That wasn't to say Pidge didn't feel sorry for him. She knew sometimes how bad stress could get to a person. But by no means did she pity him. _Oh no_ ….

 

The first time they had been told about the test Lance decided it would be hilarious to play the Hamster Dance instead of studying. The next day he brought girls into the dorm and flirted with them. The third day he decided Pidge would be his butler and Hunk his personal chef. Neither liked his attitude that day, so they locked him out of the dorm while they studied.

 

Pidge groaned as today was the fourth day of this pattern and Lance had decided to talk to her loudly in Spanish. _“De todos modos, a mi mamá le gusta hornear galletas en las noches lluviosas, así que-“_

“ _Lance, si no dejas de divagar, me encargaré personalmente de que tu cama sea arrojada al lago._ ” She hissed, tired of listening to Lance for _three hours_. The kid needed a better hobby.

 

Lance blinked confused, “But we don't have a lake on camp- _Espera, ¿solo hablas español?”_  , He backtracked as Pidge rolled her eyes.

 

“Yes _tonto_ , I'm smart like that. Now can you please let me finish my work?” Pidge groaned as Lance seemed to short circuit.

 

“Uh yeah ok. I'm going to go grab something from the cafeteria…” He said as he got up and left the dorm.

 

Pidge was about to ask why Lance would think the cafeteria was still open at this hour but paused when she realized it was guy code for ‘processing things’.

“ _Fuck_.” She swore under her breath, cursing herself for once again coming off as a rude ‘know it all’.

* * *

Thankfully the first pilot test was easy.

Both Lance and Hunk came bursting into the dorm whooping and hollering about how they'd passed as Pidge herself had just come back from taking her own test.

 

“So how'd you score Pidge?” Hunk prompted as Lance was still fist pumping the air excited.

 

“1.1” She smirked as Hunk appeared shocked.

 

“ _No way_ , how do you even get that rank?” Lance joined in the conversation interested for once.

Pidge smirked, “I have my ways.” She chuckled, “Besides, the mathematical part was actually one giant equation that when divided by equaled zero, so it was rather straightforward.” She explained as Lance just blinked.

 

“Still, that's like… The closest anyone's ever gotten to pilot Holt’s own scores on that test, and he's only a few years older!” Lance waved his arms about excited.

 

Pidge blushed under the praise, “Yeah but don't get too excited. It's only the first test.” She reminded, “We still have to take that simulation test in a couple months.” She sighed.

Why couldn't grading on this earth be as easy as back on hers?

 

For example, scores were supposed to go up to one hundred, not down. She'd nearly freaked when she'd been handed her first test back from the teachers. _A score of one point five?!_ She remembered hyperventilating. _Did I take the test for a different class?_ No, was the answer as she flipped over the paper and saw only two answers in red.

 

Another thing she had to adapt to was the letter grades, which went from A to E, and we're not written as mere numbers, but rather long words that meant the grade. A was for amazing, b for beautiful, c for common, d for dreadful, and e for egregious.

The first time a grade had been returned she ended up spending a laughable ten minutes looking through all the writing for her letter grade, only to discover from her classmates’ whispers that the words were the letter grades.

 

“-sweat, right Pidge?” Lance had been talking while Pidge internally monologed.

“Mhm, sorry what was that last part?” Pidge asked confused as Lance seemed to be annoyed slightly.

 

“Too busy thinking about the computer, eh? I was saying that none of us will break a sweat over the simulation.” Lance repeated, “Like a video game! Except, more props.” He added.

 

Pidge had to laugh at that, “Yeah, and we'll all pilot the Millennium Falcon towards an Imperial base and save the captives~!” She joked as everyone just looked at her.

That's when Pidge realized the two likely didn't know anything about Star Wars since it technically didn't exist.

“It's a nerd joke.” She recovered with a lie as Hunk laughed and shook his head.

 

“Dude Pidge, we're gonna have to drag you out of that lab more often.” He cracked a smile as she just rolled her eyes.

* * *

 

One of the pros of being in the technical major was that Pidge was allowed nearly unlimited access to all the lab equipment at her disposal.

This was what lead to the third most shocking event of her life.

 

It happened one evening when she was fiddling with a garrison radio to see if she could bypass the blocked radio signals on campus by amplifying the radio receiver using a mini power cell as fuel for the endeavor.

_Iverson and co. have got to have some sort of secret area they use to discuss shit when people are around_. She frowned. It only made sense since even the regular staff seemed to have trouble finding him when they needed to… Maybe it was a tad obsessive, but she hadn't come to make friends in the long run.

 

_Besides,_ she thought, _if anyone catches me I can bluff it on trying a late night experiment. It's not like any of the equipment is off limits_. She smirked as she finished coding her makeshift antenna to hone in and flipped the switch.

 

The feedback was instant.

 

Her headphones screamed bloody murder down her eardrums as she let out a yell and flung them off. The computer was going crazy, picking up so many signals that the number counter was lagging from trying to keep up. Pidge was both baffled and in awe.

“They have more channels than I could've ever predicted!” She cheered excitedly as she tried to refine a particularly lively signal.

 

She managed to dial away most of the noise from the surrounding radio stations but frowned when she couldn't understand the language being spoken.

 

_“ Guzum grev ta hup up jaz har!_ _Zars sa quev ah ta frek Voltron frimil jaz mer ge frez trem yu!_ _Ha? Kriz a hlo yu-"_

The feed cut out after that and Pidge just frowned stunned. “W-what was that?” She dialed in another station similar to the one she'd just heard and cleared away the static.

 

_“ Ra?_ _Ha lo a dra ne zar sa grezumnug guz lawl oar trum ta frek Voltron?_ _Ner grev huf nark wer dee riquar hik-"_

There was more of that odd language again…

Her mind was racing a mile an hour as she tried to go through all the stations and eventually decided to just shut the whole thing off.

 

Silence at last.

The only thing she heard for a few minutes was herself breathing rapidly.

“Ok, so that's a-… A Lot more than I thought it would be.” She took a gulp of air as she calmed down. “Maybe it's a secret code or something…” She thought as she penned down the information from the signals she'd received and decided to close shop for the night.

 

“If it is...” She thought to herself as she stored the equipment away in one of the cubby holes, “Then Iverson’s done me a favor.” She grinned. This was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dictionary:
> 
> Ra: So  
> Ha: What  
> A: I


	9. Interlude: Schrödinger's cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little look into the aftermath of Pidge leaving home, and how that's going.

There was a statewide search for Katie Holt.

Every time Pidge turned on the news she saw it. Every time she had to turn it off when they played footage of her mother begging her to come home.

 

Colleen was a strong woman. Even in the worst of times, she put on a brave face in front of people to help them feel better. But not once had she ever hidden anything from Pidge.

To see her utterly break down as an anchorwoman interviewed her on the ‘tragic disappearance’ of her daughter made Pidge’s stomach curdle.

 

 _I’m responsible for this_. The unwanted thought popped into her head as she felt her stomach churn uneasily.

She was grateful Lance and Hunk weren’t in the room with her. Otherwise, they’d see her crying an ugly mess and she couldn’t have that. Pidge Gunderson didn’t cry. That was stupid. Emotions were only something girls showed.

 

She wished things could be different. She wished she could wake up tomorrow as herself with Hunk and Lance and just go hang out. But deep down, she knew the moment word got out she would be a dead man. Yeah, a _very_ dead man walking over thin ice.

 

She’d done her best to wipe all traces of where she’d been before she left. Her bedroom had remained the same as it always had, and she hadn’t taken more than a few essential things from her and Matt’s room that wouldn’t be easily missed or looked for immediately during a search.

She’d ordered everything else online and had it delivered to her p.o. Box. Nothing would keep her away from the truth. No one would stop her from finding Dad and Matt.

Hell, she even faked her medical records. ~~~~

But even though she had everyone fooled, she still couldn’t stand to watch the woman who essentially raised her break down into tears. _Geez_ , didn’t they have some rainbows or kittens to show off?

She would never, _could never_ , go back to the way things were. She knew that, but seeing her face on television seemed to seal the deal.

The moment they found her the web of lies she’d been living would snap under the pressure and hang her by the neck. She’d be lucky to be in juvie; _she’d be lucky if no one ever had to find out_.

 

She had a few plans mulling about if she did get caught. Each meticulously thought out and crafted during her downtime, and each interaction carefully planned to not arouse suspicion. As long as she did well, didn’t get the highest scores on tests, she’d be fine. The real challenge was keeping herself in check with Lance and Hunk.

 

 _If they ever found out…_ No, it wouldn’t happen. Pidge was certain of that.

 

Disgusted, she turned off the tv as she got up.

 _Enough of that._ She grunted to herself. “They’ll get bored of tracking me down soon enough.” She frowned as she felt a migraine coming along. “Time to go back to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is just a small update in between chapters as I revise a few things and do other real life stuff.  
> Summer has been my downtime, so I don't get very motivated to write during this. I revised this a little bit so it was less rambly, but if anyone has any questions for my Pidge please don't be afraid to ask, I have lots of footnotes for each scene I write. :3  
> Anyways, I hope you all enjoy~ (I'm so excited for Season 7 to come out ^w^)


	10. Chapter 8: The Stars are Aligning [Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iverson continues to be a dick and Pidge works on things...

Days flew by as Pidge fiddled with her ‘homemade satellite’ in between classes. Whenever she wasn't studying for a pilot test, she could be found either coding away at some program or tinkering in the lab with equipment.

What people didn't know is that the equipment was for something different. Something _daring_ , as Pidge liked to admit to herself. She'd long since ditched the lame cheap electronics the Garrison provided for the lab in favor of her own that she'd managed to smuggle in bit by bit.

 

By now she'd nearly built an entire radio tower out of hobbled together electronic components while she idly worked at cracking codes that were streaming in from the channels. Hunk and Lance hadn't seen her much since last week, as she'd spent most of her time locked up in the lab cobbling together the beast, but that wasn’t really important in the long run.

 

There was one thing Pidge knew for certain. She was getting close to cracking this ‘code’ she was getting from her receiver, and nothing short of the sky falling or Iverson catching her was going to deter her.

Maybe it was a long shot. Maybe this wouldn't lead her any closer to Matt or her father than what she had tried in the past. But hope was a persistent little thing, and as such, she wouldn't allow an opportunity like this to go to waste.

Besides, she had a good feeling that she was on the right track.

 

That's when life decided to collect rent again.

* * *

 

Pidge was bored. And boredom did not bode well with Pidge.

The students had been summoned to pilot testing today in a room that laughably looked like something from the space camps she'd been to as a child, but with more emphasis on the future of space flight instead of cheesy Mars rovers and rock climbing walls. The only thing missing was a sign in front of the simulation machine saying _Odyssey 3000_ or some dumb shit like that.

 

At least Hunk and Lance were happy to see her.

“Nice of you to grace us with your presence once more, short stuff.” Lance teased as he ruffled her head lovingly.

“It's only been a week Lance; seriously, knock it off,” Pidge grumbled as she squirmed away from him and fixed her hair. Even though it was short and somewhat unkempt, she liked it to be _her_ version of short and unkempt, thank you very much.

“What Lance means is that we've missed you.” Hunk rectified.

 

Pidge smirked, “Thanks. Missed you two too.” She admitted. She was honestly surprised at how much she’d been missing their antics while she was away.

 

It wasn't long before they were called into the simulator to begin their test. Not much was spoken as they each set up the mock system for takeoff, and Pidge studied the information flowing on her chart for her role of comm-spec.

* * *

 

They had failed.

Despite the jostling about, Pidge was rather grateful this wasn't an _actual_ space flight or they be so screwed. She was seriously beginning to doubt the competence of two teenage boys named Hunk and Lance, and how they had even managed to get into the flight school in the first place.

“Simulation failed.” The computer chimed back cheekily, as Pidge groaned and popped a stiff shoulder back into place from the rough landing. The door to the pod opened up and they shamefully walked out of it, ready to be assessed on their shitty job.

“Nice work, Tailor.” Pidge hissed, biting back any ruder comments she had to give to the boy. Deep down she loved him dearly, but with their necks on the line being placed on Lance’s shoulders, she had a few complaints to file.

“Roll out jackasses!” Iverson called as the three of them lined up back at the loading zone of the room.

 _Oh God_ , Pidge swore to herself as she knew this was not going to end well. Iverson was in one of his moods again.

“Well let's see if we can't use this complete _failure_ as a lesson for the rest of you students.” He sneered at them before turning around, “Can anyone point out the mistakes these three _so-called cadets_ made in the simulator?” Ah, there it was. That air of confidence Iverson held above others that Pidge had oh-so-dearly missed.

Michelle, one of the brighter students of the group, immediately shot her hand up. “The engineer puked in the main gearbox.” She said like it was a pop quiz. Something about her response was giving Pidge a bad case of déjà vu, but Pidge chose to ignore it for now in favor of trying to quell her raging inferno of emotions.

“Yes. As everyone _knows_ , vomit is _not_ an approved lubricant for engine systems.” Iverson rolled his eyes as Pidge could feel an aneurysm growing on her forehead. “What else?” He asked.

“The comm-spec removed his safety harness.”

_Duh._

“The pilot crashed!”

_No shit Sherlock._

“Correct.” Iverson nodded in approval, “And worst of all, the whole jump, they were arguing with each other. Heck, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a team!” He lectured on and on, as he began his typical tyrannical speech to the children.

 _Oh my God, does he ever shut up?_ Pidge was beyond done at this point. She could barely tolerate a long conversation with Iverson, let alone one she couldn't get out of. This was only fraying her emotions up.

“Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astroexplorers, but these kinds of mental _mistakes_ are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission.” A pregnant pause; as if the world could sense the storm that about to come and held its breath in anticipation.

Pidge saw _red._ “That's not true, sir!” She yelled defiantly, anger threatening to tinge her face pink as she prepared to lunge at the man. Screw the rules, this fucker was going to lose his other eye before they could drag her off of him.

“ _What did you say?_ ” Iverson’s voice turned cold as Pidge froze. All the pent-up anger fled like a startled goose, and she realized how _badly_ this could go if she reacted aggressively.

At the same time, her body was continuing to run on autopilot, ignoring her brain screaming at her to shut up and apologize, as she opened her mouth to continue on with her rant.

Or would _have,_ had a hand not shot out to cover her mouth. “Sorry, sir! I think he hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken.” Lance covered for her as Pidge squirmed in his grip, trying to pry the older boy off of her. Damnit, let her have this!

Iverson had other things to do apparently as he broke eye contact with Pidge, “I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out.” He said as he leered at Lance, making the boy squirm under his gaze as held onto Pidge ever tighter. “ _Don't_  follow in his footsteps... Next!” He called as Lance and Hunk shakily nodded and dragged Pidge off the launch pad, as she still squirmed in Lance’s grasp, into the hall.

 

No one spoke of what had happened. Hunk looked like he wanted too, but seeing the twisted expression of pain on Pidge's face made him stop as they moved back to their barracks.

She knew she was crying. She could feel the tears streaming down her face as she did her best to hold back sobs that would further embarrass herself.

There would be a pep talk later for sure. Pidge knew there was no way to get out of one when Hunk blocked the door and Lance pried the information out of her like usual. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to reveal too much.

Right now she just didn't care. She was spent. Thankfully the boys didn't bother her and just let her cry in the room as they left to do who knows what after some time.

 

Time seemed to pass slowly, as Pidge tried her best to pull herself together.

 _I'm such an idiot. I let myself get riled up at seeing Iverson be a dick again and it nearly cost me everything…_ She curled up on herself. _I miss Dad and Matt. I just want them here with me and not… Gone._ She bit her tongue. Why did Iverson have to be such a thorn in her side?

Eventually, she'd calmed down enough to move around a little and noticed the boys still weren't back. “Probably out talking to ladies.” Pidge rolled her eyes teasingly as she got an idea.

“I think I'll listen to those radio frequencies for a while…”  She hummed to herself as she began dragging out the various equipment needed for her radio. She could use a break from the typical fiasco that was her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow wow wow wow! I cannot believe I got another chapter done this week! (Shut up, I know it's Sunday.)  
> I skipped the whole simulation scene, mainly because it was just too long and dialog heavy, but also because when I sat down to write it every antic that Pidge, Hunk, and Lance got up to was ridiculous and didn't really fit with the plot I had in store for when they got out of the simulation.   
> I wanted to focus more on Pidge encountering Iverson again and how Lance and Hunk would react to seeing her throw a fit, so the simulation scene got scrapped and thus the chapter got a lot shorter than originally intended.  
> Hope you guys liked the new chapter! Who's ready to see Shiro enter the scene next update? ;3
> 
> (From here on out there's going to be a lot more heavy canon dialogue, but not everything will line up with canon in the future chapters. Please tell me if anything seems too bland or boring, I want to keep the story going but I also don't want it to be uninteresting... Hope that didn't sound too confusing :U)


	11. Chapter 9: The Stars are Aligning [Part 3]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aliens are coming~  
> The aliens are coming~  
> The aliens are coming, and these kids are gonna get radiation poisoning. :U

“Lights out in five! Everyone back to their dorms, _now_.” Pidge heard Iverson call as she grabbed the last pieces of equipment she needed from under her bunk.

 _Better hurry up before roll call starts making their rounds._ Pidge thought to herself as she quickly stashed the last pieces in her pack and ran out the dorm after the coast was clear. She froze only for a moment when she heard something crash, but after seeing no one come running down the halls, she quickly made her way up to the roof of the building.

Sighing in relief as she gently closed the door behind her, Pidge placed the equipment down next to everything else and took a deep breath of fresh air. “It's so nice out here.” She said to herself as she sat down and ran a hand across the smooth surface of the building. “Cool, but dry enough that it's not uncomfortable.” She continued to unfold pieces and attach them to her portable radio tower as she spoke.

It was odd, really. No one ever bothered to come up here except for occasional cleaning, which was not scheduled to happen tonight as far as Pidge knew, but for the life of her, she didn’t know why.   
_Maybe that’s because everybody’s too busy trying to go to space._ Pidge remarked. At least with no one around, she had the whole night to simply relax up here and listen in on incoming signals.

She'd marked several of them for review.

The closest, and relatively the strongest, signal received Pidge had labeled _Desert_ ; since she believed it to be coming from either Garrison headquarters or somewhere nearby. It had a repetitive tone to it; perhaps from other stray radio signals bouncing off of it, and was the hardest to triangulate.

 _Apollo_ was a stranger one. It's signal constantly bouncing around, hence the name; but even weirder was the insane gibberish coming from it that sounded vaguely like spoken language. She was working on trying to decipher it.

 _Voltron_ was fascinating, it's signal constant and clearly of life origins; but she couldn't decipher the babbling tongues of so many voices other than the word _Voltron_ being thrown around a lot. It was frustrating in ways Pidge couldn’t describe in words, so she tried her best not to dwell too long on that particular station.

The last one on her list was labeled _U,_ simply because the of the ‘u’ sounding noise coming from the rather strong signal that Pidge estimated to be from the Andromeda Galaxy. (Which was astounding in itself.) While the range was impressive, it was likely shockwaves from a collision in the neighboring galaxy.

Nevertheless, Pidge set up shop and began working late into the evening; marking down potential phrases that could help her translate the mysterious codes coming from her signals, and absentmindedly doodling while she did so.

It was the one time of day she felt truly relaxed, able to focus and let her guard down. It wasn't easy pretending to be someone else, (nor would she have expected to have had to keep up the façade for so long), but she'd be damned if this wasn't the key to discovering where Matt and them went. If only she could decrypt this a little bit faster…   
Her fingers itched impatiently. It had already been several months since her arrival. She _really_ didn’t want to stick around longer than she had to.

“You come up here to rock out?” Someone asked as they pried Pidge’s headphones off her ears; causing her to let out a scream before whipping around to face her intruder.

“Oh, Lance, Hunk.” She breathed easy. She had thought maybe one of the patrol guards had finally caught her. “No, um, just looking at the stars.” The lie came out effortlessly, as she had practiced saying it just in case she ever got caught. Still, what were the two of them doing up here? This was going to put her plans way behind schedule…

Lance meanwhile was busy snooping around her tower, looking at it up and down as if he were appraising a car. “Man where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech.”

“I built it,” Pidge smirked, laughing at the idea the Lance had even thought she’d stoop low enough to use the Garrison’s pathetic machinery.

Hunk took the opportunity to examine her work slightly closer while the two were talking. “You built all of this?” He said amazed as he fiddled with the dish on her machine.

“Ah- _don’t touch it, Hunk!_ Yes, I built it!” Pidge scolded Hunk and she slapped his hand away from her tech, “With this tech, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system,” she clarified. _Might as well explain this now before Hunk gets the idea to take it apart._ Pidge thought to herself defeated. She was still sour over him breaking her smartphone last month…

“That right?” Lance asked as he finished looking at her equipment and crossed his arms, “All the way to Kerberos?” He quirked an eyebrow upwards.

Pidge groaned and buried her face in her hands. She knew she'd finally be asked that. Her subtlety could only go so far and she still hadn't given them an explanation for the meltdown she had earlier. She eyed Hunk inching closer to her equipment as she hid her embarrassment.

“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?” Lance scolded as Pidge reached over to smack Hunk’s open and grabby hand once again.

“ _Second warning_ , Hunk!” Pidge growled as Hunk groaned defeated and moved back to where he'd been sitting. Lance didn't seem to take kindly to being ignored, so in his usual fashion he kept on talking.

“Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets.” He said, his face looking rather concerned at her this time, which gave Pidge pause before she opened her mouth to reply.

“Fine.” She gave in. She might as well spill the beans now before the two get any wild ideas and further hinder her plans. She decided to gradually ease them into the waters, starting by answering Lance’s immediate question. “The world as you know it is about to change.” She began, looking at Lance and Hunk’s face for any sign of them trying to bolt and call security on her. “The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake. It- _Stop touching my equipment!_ ” Pidge screeched annoyed as she halfway considered duct taping Hunk’s hands together to keep him from even going near the thing. _God_ , she knew Hunk was an engineer but she never realized how grabby he was!

Hunk whined defeated as Pidge lunged for his hands and he jerked them away just in time. Pidge scooted her pack in between the machine and him, just in case, and resumed her explanation.

“ _Anyways_ , I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter,” Pidge explained as she pulled up a signal she’d been looking at recently and showed them.

“Whoa. Wait, aliens?” Hunk seemed to finally snap out of his fixation with her machine as he looked up at her surprised…

“Okay. So, you're insane. Got it.” Lance rolled his eyes, clearly unamused as Pidge frowned.

“I'm serious.” She deadpanned, the strain on her voice evident as she unplugged her headphones and the radio chatter began to play aloud. “What else do you call this uniform gibberish?” She joked a bit, but the irony seemed lost on them. She sighed and decided to stay on topic.   
“They keep repeating one word, ‘Voltron’; can’t you hear it?” She asked as the boys leaned in to listen. “Tonight it's been going crazier than I have ever heard it. I’ve been trying to scan for other signals to see if there’s any type of correlation in the sudden spike in activity.” She explained as she refocused the dish on her tower and began the act of writing down key points of interest from the signal.

“How crazy we talking?” Lance leaned in behind her.

Pidge was rather impressed by Lance’s sudden interest in her work. _If that's all it took to get him to shut up during finals I would've cried alien sooner_. She laughed in her head as she did some last minute adjustments.   
“Pretty much-“, A shrill alarm cried out, the noise droning on in a tandem beat. Pidge instinctively went to cover her ears as she nearly jumped out of her skin from the sound.

“ _Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu-Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice._ ” Iverson’s voice came barking out on the speaker just as Pidge was about to go into further explanation. She winced, rubbing her now throbbing eardrums.

“Lockdown?” Lance said confused as suddenly a very loud sonic boom shook the entire campus.

“What's going on? Is that a meteor? A very, _very_ big meteor?” Hunk asked panicked as he pointed to something orange glowing angrily in the sky as it seemed to move closer towards the Garrison.

Pidge didn't know what to make of the situation. A meteor? Falling right here? What on earth would be happening to cause that?!   
_Only one way to find out_. Pidge thought as she scrambled to pull out the binoculars she’d packed and focus in on the object.

 _No way…_  Pidge thought to herself. “It's a ship!” She gasped audibly, as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

A small ship was entering earth’s atmosphere at an alarming rate. It was spinning wildly, the wings either bent or broken apart, but the hull reminded intact.   
Lance then snatched the binoculars from her face as she yelped in shock and was dragged nearly into the boy’s lap from the force. Thankfully, no one could see how beet red her face was at the moment. Lance never really thought about what his actions _ever_ did, Pidge huffed annoyed.

“ _Holy crow!_ I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's definitely not one of ours.” Lance exclaimed excitedly as Pidge kept her eyes focused on the burning ship. (It was close enough now she didn't really need the binoculars anyway…)

She was already crunching the numbers in her head, disassembling the details she saw on the ship and running it through her memory of all the ships the garrison owned. The design didn't match up to any known form of aviation, meaning-

“ _No._ It's one of theirs.” Pidge exclaimed astonished as her brain worked overtime trying to process the information.

“So, wait. There really are aliens out there?” Hunk piped in as the ship finished its decent and crashed out in the open desert in a glorious display of noise and light.

 _Apparently so Hunk._ Pidge kept the thought to herself as she tried to steady her breathing. She was having a hard time believing it herself. _Aliens?_ So the chatter she had been picking up could've very well been strong alien signals being sent back and forth to one another. _How did she miss such an obvious detail?!_

 _No time like the present to discover new things_. Pidge grinned as she eyed the location where the ship had crashed. Already the Garrison was driving out there to investigate, which made her grin grow wider as she wanted to beat them to it.

“We’ve got to see that ship!” Pidge exclaimed excitedly, as she hurriedly began dismantling her tower and packing her things. It wouldn't take long, maybe five, ten minutes’ tops. She had that down to a drill. Instilled in her by the Garrison’s tight military schedule.

She didn't bother being gentle this time around. Most of the equipment was rather durable and she paused only to feed the wires back correctly before she stood up and slung her backpack over her shoulders.   
She was full of energy now. This was her chance to discover something huge! Screw the Garrison! She was ready for some high stakes adventure!

She looked over her shoulder as she reached the door to see if Hunk and Lance were coming. Lance had just finished adjusting his jacket as he helped Hunk stand up. “Hunk, come on! Let's go find some aliens!” He smiled excitedly as Hunk whined and finally stood up. Pidge felt relieved to have the two accompanying her on the trek.

“This is the worst team-building exercise ever.” Hunk groaned, as Pidge threw the door open and they ran down the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised Shiro in this chapter, but when I was revising it I realized that in order for it to flow well I needed to break it in half; again.  
> So this is more of a teaser for Shiro rather than an official appearance? I promise it's coming, I just didn't realize how long these segments were. :U
> 
> Also, all of this is unbeta'd, so please excuse my horrible use of commas and semicolons. English is not my major. :T  
> (I've stared at the word subtlety for so long now it has screwed with my perception of grammar. Holy crap, this chapter went through so many grammar revisions. X_x')


End file.
